> Because by then, new computer hardware, like CPUs, will not be supported by Windows> 7. I have serious issues with Windows 10 forcefully applying updates or installing> different drivers to your system, sometimes the latest patches or the newest drivers> are not the best ones you can use, ya know?

To be perfectly honest, I resisted Windows 10 tooth-and-nail. But back in December I finally put it on my laptop because I had to in order to do development on this one contracting gig, my complaints about it since then are pretty much nonexistent.

There are a few minor gripes that I have, but it would be disingenuous for me to say that they're "complaints", because none of them rise to that level. Minor things like "My Computer" being renamed to "This PC".

Heck, in terms of backwards compatibility, I've had fewer issues when going from Windows 7 to Windows 10, because my previous jump was from Windows XP to Windows 7, and that introduced quite a few compatibility problems with legacy Windows applications and games. No such trouble with Windows 10 on my end.

I will admit that the update installation can be a pain when you wake up in the morning and your machine has rebooted, but I feel like people are overstating how onerous that is for some reason. If you're actively using your machine, you can tell Windows to remind you later.

I'm frankly glad that they've made it that you can't perpetually wave-off the updates, though. I don't know if you've really kept tabs on what's been going on, security-wise, over the past decade and a half, but the sheer number of people getting hit with ransomware and other ugly forms of malware should stand as pretty stark testimony that people cannot be trusted to consistently install security updates so that their computers don't become part of a botnet without their knowledge. It's unfortunate that it's come to this, but I don't think it's at all wrong for Microsoft to use their position as a dominant player in the OS market to effectively force people to stay up-to-date with security. It's not people like you or me who are the problem, it's the self-styled and cheeto-dusted basement-dwellers who think that they know better and magically don't get viruses because they're "responsible", never mind the fact that it's been shown time and time again that machines can be compromised without ever even going to a website.

As for the whole "spyware" thing, it's dramatically overstated by tech professionals who aren't that great at reading legal texts and EULAs, and assume the worst. Personally, I understand why Microsoft have to say that anything you type into the Start menu gets sent up to their servers: There's actually a really great feature that allows you to do a one-click install of applications you don't currently have, if they're available on the Windows Store. The problem is that it's essentially impossible to know a priori whether the person is typing in the name of a document, a URL to a website, or even erroneously typing their own password into the Start Menu. How would Windows know in advance that the "Bazzl3Fr0zz" that the user is typing into the Start Menu is a password, as opposed to, say, just a URL? So, Microsoft have to cover their asses and simply state that everything you type into the Start Menu is sent up to their servers.

Another bit of "spyware"? Microsoft transmitting information back to their servers whenever I click the "I like this!" or the "I don't like this." buttons on my lock screen when it happens to come up with a background image that I either like or don't. Oh no, Microsoft tailoring the user experience to my preferences, heaven forbid!

Anyway, as someone who has made the jump to Windows 10, I would suggest installing it on a secondary machine first, if you have one, and see how it grabs you once you're actually using it. I'm still using Windows 7 on my main PC, but you can bet that once upgrade-time rolls around, I'll be punting upwards to 10.